Experts

Natalia de Barbaro

Natalia de Barbaro

A psychologist and sociologist by education, she is a communication and leadership trainer, with a training certificate from Thames Valley University (Great Britain) and experience of over 1500 training days. She's worked in sixteen countries, including Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary. She's also served as a political strategist in campaigns European Council, Donald Tusk 2005 presidential campaign. She is a columnist for a leading weekly "Wysokie Obcasy" (High Heels). Her passions outside work are poetry and yoga.

Katarzyna Barcikowska

Katarzyna Barcikowska

Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, European Union Department. Current tasks: following and coordinating the participation of Poland in the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS), in the EU Northern Dimension and cross-border cooperation. Participation in various expert meetings in the Baltic Sea Region, CBSS Ministerial Sessions and Heads of Government Summits. Senior Official in the CBSS Committee of Senior Officials. Member of the Working Group on Democratic Institutions. Co-chairperson of the Working Group on Democratic Institutions of the Council of the Baltic Sea States during the Polish Presidency in the Group. Coordinator of the preparation to the CBSS Conference: Relations between corruption, Democracy and Human Rights, Warsaw, May 2007. 

Lavon Barshcheuski

Lavon Barshcheuski

Belarusian philologist, translator, writer, poet and politician, in 1990-1995, Member of the Supreme Council of the Byelorussian SSR / the Parliament of Belarus, 12th legislature; member of the BNF opposition, with anti-Communist and pro-independence origins. In 1996—99, 2007-2009 he acted as the Chairman of the BPF Party; PhD since 1989. In 1980 he graduated from the Minsk University of Foreign Languages​​. He taught at the Polatsk State University in 1981-1990. From 1991 he was deputy director at the Belarusian Lyceum of Humanities. He was arrested many times for his oppositional activities against the regime of Alexander Lukashenka. His lyceum was forced to become an underground school in 2003.His first publications appeared in print in 1985 in the Byelorussian SSR . Since 1989 he belongs to the Union of Belarusian Writers. He has translated works from Latin, Ancient Greek, German, English , French, Polish, Czech and other languages. In 2003  he was elected chairman of the Belarusian PEN Club and he held this position until October 2005. In total, his name was signed by more than 200 publications. His scientific achievements include the development of the methodology of language and literature , linguistics and literary studies.

Lavon Basceuski

President of the Belarusian PEN-Club, one of the leaders of the opposition Belarusian National Front.

Henryk Bątkiewicz

Henryk Bątkiewicz

He holds a PhD degree in Political Sciences. His doctoral thesis was awarded the prize by the Polish Institute of International Affairs. Worked, among others, as a head teacher and as a teacher in a school and in an infant school at the Institute of Children's Diseases in Cracow. In 1990 worked in the Special Schooling Centre at the University Children's Hospital. Recently he has taught at the Brother Albert Memorial College for Social Workers. Since January 2004 Deputy Mayor of the City of Cracow, exercises general supervision over education, culture activities and preservation of the City’s historical monuments.

Tamar Beruchashvili

Tamar Beruchashvili

Deputy State Minister of Georgia on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. 1998-99 Deputy Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations,
1999-2000 Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, 2000-04 Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2004 Deputy State Minister (Deputy Chief of the Government), 2004 Minister of State and Minister of Integration with European structures. She also has an great academic experience as the Assistant Professor of Economics Department of the Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, teaching International trade policy and commercial diplomacy and European Integration for the Master’s degree students and as a lecturer at the Georgian Institute of Public Administration (GIPA), Course for the Master’s degree students – Trade and Development. She is a member of the American Society of Public Administration, a member of the Georgian Information Society, board member of International Trade Policy and Law Center and a chairperson of the Government Commission for Gender Equality.

Mieczysław Bieniek

Mieczysław Bieniek

Former NATO's Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. He holds the ran),  Multinational Division Central-South in Iraq. Besides and was assigned as a Special Envoy of the SACEUR in Afghanistan. He served as a senior military advisor to the k of the four-star General. So far it was the highest position, taken by Polish general in NATO Command Structure. He served as Commanding Officer of the Polish Contingent in the UN Mission – UNDOF; as Chief Logistics Officer in  UN Mission – MINURSO. He commanded Nordic-Polish Brigade Command in SFOR, 3rd Corps NRDC (Turkey Polish Minister of Defense. General Bieniek was appointed as the Polish Military Representative to the NATO and European Union Military Committees in Brussels. His education includes the Polish Army Academy, Polish Armed Forces General Staff Academy and Royal College of Defense Studies in London. Also, he holds PhD in International Security from Polish NDU. Author of many articles and books about International security and strategy as well as cyber and energy security.

Nikko Biernacka

Nikko Biernacka

A freelance photographer, founder of the Machina Fotografika Foundation, she promotes people who work in photography, supports the creative development of women and performs educational activities in visual arts. A graduate of Cultural Studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań and Creative Photography in Opava (Czech Republic), with a diploma in Dita Pepe’s seminar. She exhibits both in Poland and abroad. She publishes in newspapers: Polityka weekly, Wysokie Obcasy magazine, Tygodnik Powszechny weekly, as well as in books. She strives to make fashion a tool for the promotion of important social, artistic and cultural events and she attains this goal in “artfashion” photo sessions. She has also completed coach training organized by NGO Trainers’ Association STOP, currently participant in the Leaders Program of The Polish-American Freedom Foundation. She works on project „440 km”, which aims to support women’s development with physical disabilities and make them more visible in public space.

Agata Bisping

Agata builds solutions leaning into the future, combining trends, research and academia isnights into action strategies for companies, organizations and institutions. She has implemented projects for – among other - ING, 10Clouds, X-Lander, Wroclaw, Krakow, Katowice Municipalities, Dell Technologies, TPN.

Creativity practitioner and trainer. Hosts podcasts and webinars for SWPS University's Design Zone, as well as the FutureS Thinking Podcast, where she talks to guests from around the world about how to design the future. Graduate of the Designing the Future postgraduate program at SWPS University. She is a lecturer at the Trendwatching & Futures Studies postgraduate program at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Poland, and PhD student at the AGH Doctoral School, where she researches futures as a tool for building social innovation and civic participation.

Patryk Błaszczak

Diplomat and government official. In 2008, he started working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the Department of the United Nations and Human Rights, and then at the Department of European Policy. In 2017-2018 he was the head of the Political Department of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Paris. From 2019, deputy director in the Department of European Policy. From October 2020, he also serves as the National Coordinator of Visegrad Cooperation.

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